"It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what makes a great artist creative" but The Atlanticmakes a strong attempt and cites the story behind Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as an example of what can happen "when experience, openness, and the right neurology come together."

On Thursday, the fiction writer Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize for Literature, which marks the first time a Chinese writer has won the prestigious award. Lauded for his command of “hallucinatory realism,” Yan (whose pen name translates to “not talking” in Mandarin) has drawn comparisons to Faulkner for the complexity of his fictional settings. Back in 2005, John Updikepublished his thoughts on the writer.